Cover Feature: Brittany Cox, MA, RDH Redefining Green Dentistry

We tend to picture sustainability as a thing — a compostable floss, a refillable tube, a toothbrush made of bamboo. But for Brittany Cox, sustainability is not a product. It’s a system. A worldview. A standard of care.

Cox is one of sustainable dentistry’s most respected voices — a clinician, writer, and mother who challenges her peers to think deeper, lead bolder, and reimagine green dentistry beyond surface-level swaps.

“Sustainability isn’t just what we use — it’s how we practice,” she says. “It’s how we communicate. It’s how we design our systems. It’s who we include, and who we exclude.”

Rooted in Prevention

Cox champions a sustainability model that starts long before procurement — with disease prevention.

“When we prevent disease, we prevent waste. That’s the most powerful environmental tool we have,” she says.

This includes:

• Risk assessment and early diagnostics
• Comprehensive hygiene
• Non-invasive protocols
• Patient education rooted in equity and access

“Sustainability isn’t about being perfect,” she adds. “It’s about being intentional — about creating care models that do the most good with the least harm.”

From Products to People

For Cox, green dentistry is not about optics or social media buzzwords. It’s about real-world outcomes — and the clinicians who deliver them.

“There’s no sustainability if the team is burned out. There’s no sustainability if clinicians can’t afford to stay in the profession,” she says.

This belief shapes her mentorship approach. She’s known for making knowledge accessible, advocating openly, and inviting others in — especially young hygienists, women of color, and caregivers.

“There’s no such thing as a gatekept revolution,” she says.

No One-Size-Fits-All

In Cox’s eyes, sustainability isn’t one aesthetic or brand identity — it’s a flexible framework adaptable to diverse communities, clinic types, and patient populations.

A paperless cosmetic studio. A bilingual hygiene van. A Medicaid clinic in a food desert. All are capable of sustainability when we define it by intention, not image.

“Perfection is a colonized standard,” she says. “The earth doesn’t need heroes. It needs honesty.”

Leadership as Legacy

Brittany Cox isn’t here to greenwash dentistry. She’s here to rebuild it — one decision, one dialogue, one patient at a time.

Her work reminds us that sustainability isn’t just what we leave behind. It’s how we show up.